Jalan Maharajalela (Birch Road), Taiping

Jalan Maharajalela, Taiping (31 August 2015)


Jalan Maharajalela is a road in Taiping, Perak. It connects Jalan Tupai to Jalan Pekeliling. In between, it also forms junctions to Jalan Ngah Ibrahim, Jalan Sultan Abdullah and Jalan Semanea Saman.

Jalan Maharajalela was named after the Malay nationalist Lela Pandak Lam, who also goes by the title, Dato Maharaja Lela. The son of a Bugis king who hailed from Luwuk District in Sulawesi, he came to Perak during the reign of Sultan Muzaffar Shah III, who made him a mufti and gave him the title of Dato Maharaja Lela.

Dato Maharaja Lela was best known for assassinating James Wheeler Woodford Birch, the British Resident of Perak. He and his assistants Sepuntum and Pandak Lam speared Birch while the latter was taking a bath at the riverside in Pasir Salak on 2 November 1875. This caused the British to attack Pasir Salak, and Dato Maharaja Lela was executed by hanging on 20 January 1877. For their roles in the assassination, Sultan Abdullah and chieftain Ngah Ibrahim were sent into exile in the Seychelles.

Under the British, this road was named Birch Road, but after independence, the road was renamed Jalan Maharajalela, with Birch Road in the parenthesis.

Map of Jalan Maharajalela, Taiping

Jalan Maharajalela, Taiping (31 August 2015)

Jalan Maharajalela on Google Street View

Jalan Maharajalela (Jul 2020)

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